


Heartless

by alifletcher2010



Category: Throne of Glass Series - Sarah J. Maas
Genre: Alternate Universe - Alice in Wonderland Fusion, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, Fantasy, chaol and aelin are not endgame
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-21
Updated: 2020-04-24
Packaged: 2021-02-28 05:07:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,607
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22828405
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alifletcher2010/pseuds/alifletcher2010
Summary: When a night out with her boyfriend takes a surprising twist, Aelin wakes to find herself in a strange world full of strange creatures and even stranger events. But the strangest thing of all is how very much like home it all feels like.Rowaelin Alice in Wonderland Au
Relationships: Aelin Ashryver Galathynius | Celaena Sardothien/Chaol Westfall, Aelin Ashryver Galathynius | Celaena Sardothien/Rowan Whitethorn
Comments: 4
Kudos: 25





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This based off a little au drabble I wrote ages ago that you can find in my Rowaelin Tumblr Prompts fic. I have been meaning to expand for forever. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland is one of my favorite books and I’ve read/seen so may retellings, so you’ll see lots of elements of many different versions here along with a healthy dose of TOG!

Aelin bounded up the stairs, taking them two at a time. A quick glance at her phone showed her that if she hurried, she could still shower before her date. She burst through the door to the little apartment she shared with her best friend Lysandra. Shucking her bag on the floor, Aelin made her way down the hall, not even bothering to greet the woman perched on their couch who threw off the blankets and followed her.

She was halfway to the bathroom by the time Lys had caught up to her, “Hey, where have you been? Chaol is going to be here in like ten minutes!”

Heedless of modesty, Aelin began pulling off her sweaty work clothes and threw them at Lysandra. “I know, I know. My class ran over at the gym and some of the students wanted critiques on their technique, so then my usual sparring partner was busy when I got done. I settled for someone else, but I’m pretty sure the only Jiu Jitsu they knew was from watching too much MMA. I may or may not have broken their nose...It was just the worst. I have to shower, Chaol’s taking me to the new fancy Italian place and I smell like death.”

“I’ll say.” Lysandra unceremoniously dropped Aelin’s wet clothes to the floor with a repulsed look. “You’re disgusting, by the way.”

“Yeah, yeah…but something has to make up for how great my ass looks in spandex though,” Aelin winked at Lysandra, who only rolled her eyes in response.

“Get in the shower before the weight of your ego makes our apartment collapse into the one below us. I’m sure the Heckles would just loooooove that.”

“I’m going!” Aelin laughed. She was almost giddy as she ducked into the shower and quickly scrubbed off, keeping her hair out of the spray. A night out with Chaol after the longest week full of boring professors and stupid students sounded like heaven. “Will you pick me out something to wear? I will definitely not have enough time to try on ten different outfits. Make it something good, cause I have no intention on coming home tonight.”

“I’ll make sure it's something picture worthy.” Lys shouted from the next room.

Aelin paused under the spray of water as the words sunk in. Trepidation flooded her, “Wait, what? Picture worthy?”

“Oh, come on.” Aelin heard Lys come back into the room. “He is nuts about you. I think he’s had wedding bells in his eyes since the first day he met you.”

“The first day he met me, I’m positive the only thing he saw was stars from the number of times I handed him his ass.” Aelin shut off the water and climbed out of the shower, wrapping her favorite fluffy towel around her. “Plus, it’s only been three months! You don’t really think he’s going to propose, do you?”

But the outfit Lysandra had picked out spoke for her. The dusty blue dress was one of her favorites. More conservative than many of her others with its capped sleeves and sweetheart neckline, but with a twirly skirt that always made her feel like a princess. Definitely picture worthy.

“You really do think he’s going to propose?” Aelin sighed as she looked at the dress, heedless of the water she dripping all over the floor.

“Yes. He’s mad about you. Fancy dinner and all that...he’s got to have something planned,” Lysandra pushed her to get dressed and then went to the closet, throwing a pair of pumps at Aelin.

“But...three months...” Aelin sighed. There was so much more than that, so much she couldn’t put into words, couldn’t even express.

“So have a long engagement. Come on A, you deserve this. You deserve something nice for once.”

Aelin put what she hoped was a wide smile on her face. “You’re right. I do.”

“Damn straight. Now, finish getting dressed.”

-

Dinner had been exactly what she expected. Somehow and with plenty of help from Lys, Aelin had been impeccably put together before Chaol arrived, looking like a dream in his dress shirt and slacks. The food had been divine with the wine paired perfectly, the conversation pleasant, not too deep, but flowing without awkward pauses. Their hands had rested against the others the entire meal, their thumbs grazing gently occasionally.

In a word it was perfect.

And boring.

And was the essence of the problem. Chaol was predictable. With him, Aelin could see their whole lives stretch out in front of them and it bored her. House in the suburbs, two cars, three kids, PTA meetings and soccer games. A lifetime of hiding away the parts of her that Aelin still hadn’t shared with him, the parts she knew he likely never be able to accept. Like the strange dreams that haunted her since she was a ten, the trauma from her childhood that made her punch the bag at the gym a little harder sometimes, or the unexplainably blank spaces in her memory that she feared she would never remember. Things that didn’t belong in that future.

It wasn’t that she didn’t like him, because she did, inexplicably, she was mad about him. She hadn’t felt like this before with anyone else. But sometimes, it felt like he was trying to shove her into a neat little box and she was just too much to fit.

Unease knotted at Aelin’s stomach as they placed their orders for dessert. Chaol hadn’t given inclination that tonight was anything special like Lysandra had thought it would be, but dessert would be the time something would happen. As much as she wanted to believe Lys, that this would be good for her, that it was something she deserved, Aelin knew she wouldn’t be able to say yes.

At least, not yet. She wanted to finish her degree and go on adventures and see the world and do the crazy things that people only did in fairy tales. She wanted to _live_ before she could settle down.

“Are you alright?” Chaol asked softly, his warm eyes gazing at her with care.

“Huh?” Aelin hadn’t even realized she was being too quiet, lost in her thoughts.

“Dessert is usually your favorite time of the meal, and you haven’t even touched your cake.”

Aelin smiled at Chaol, trying to lose herself in those eyes. She should love him better than she did. It wasn’t that she didn’t, because she did, it was just...shallow. Like most everything else in her life. It felt like a front, a sham, a way to hide the terrible monster that always seemed to be prowling under her skin.

“Oh, it’s nothing.” Aelin laughed softly, “Just a long day, a lot on my mind. I honestly hadn’t even realized the cake had come.”

“Well, I’ve had something on my mind too, honestly, I’m surprised you didn’t notice how distracted I was.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah, I’ve been wanting to talk to you about something,” Chaol took her hand in his. “I wanted to ask you...”

Aelin felt her heart beat thunderously and her breathing stopped. _Oh, gods, it was happening, oh, gods._ A rushing sound filled her ears and even though Chaol’s mouth was moving she couldn’t hear the words.

But then a few words pushed through the static in her mind “...tonight, actually.”

“What?” Aelin blinked in confusion.

“Well, we’ve been together for awhile now, and I think it’s time you met my family. I was thinking tonight, if you want.”

Something in Chaol’s look made Aelin uneasy. He was a predictable guy. Ever since he walked into her kickboxing class four months ago in the wrong gear, he had been charming, likeable, and predictable. But there was a desperate glint to his eyes that she couldn’t ignore, that niggled at her mind, awakening her deeply buried instincts.

“Tonight? Chaol, are you serious? You told me your family lives far away... What’s going on?”

The look he gave her was unlike any she had seen on his face before, hard and uneasy, not a hint of the openness she was used to.

Speaking fast and hushed, his eyes darting around the room, as if just speaking the words would put them in danger, Chaol said, “Aelin, there is something you need to know, about me and you, and-”

He cut off his words with a strangled gasp, his face paling and his eyes wide. “I have to go.” Chaol barely choked out the words before hastily throwing a wad of cash on the table and leaving a bewildered Aelin sitting at the table with her unfinished cake.

For a beat she sat in shock, reeling from the insane turn the last few minutes had taken. Then quickly, she gathered her small bag and made to follow Chaol, only to turn to see two men in suits weaving their way through the dining room to the kitchen. They shoved patrons and tables aside, heedless of the chaos they were causing. Aelin’s blood turned cold at the sight of them. The one closer to her was dark skinned with golden hair, pulled back severely. The other, though further away, seemed to fill the entire room with his broad frame and the deadly set of his jaw. He too had long hair, though it hung loose around his face, chopped roughly as with a knife, ending severely just above his shoulders. Though the two men were different as night and day, they both had the same dead eyes. Lethal, cold, completely without feeling.

The sight of them stopped Aelin dead in her tracks, like a doe caught in headlights. Whatever had spooked Chaol, these two definitely had something to do with it. He was in trouble. And there was no way, with his weak stance that she constantly teased him about, that he could hold these two hulking beasts off for long.

As they passed her by without a second glance, Aelin made up her mind. Without a second thought she pushed through behind them, attempting to catch them up, despite how they moved through the restaurant with near inhuman speed and grace. Then they were in the steamy kitchen, pushing aside waiters and chefs without second thought, all semblance of proprietary gone now. These men, they were hunters, single minded in the pursuit of their prey.

For a moment, Aelin lost them in the steam and chaos of the kitchen. When she was outside, the sounds of the city at night filled her senses, overwhelming her, leaving her disoriented for a moment.

And then she heard it. Further down the alley, there was a sound she was very familiar with, flesh hitting flesh and the pained grunts of someone being beat. Not giving a single care for her own safety, Aelin darted down the alleyway, following the sounds.

The sight that greeted her was something out of a bad police drama. Four men in suits surrounded Chaol, or rather what was left of him. He had clearly been beaten unconscious and his face was a nearly unrecognizable bloodied and bruised mess. As she got closer, she could see the two that had been in the restaurant unceremoniously hoist him up and drag him towards the end of the alleyway.

She nearly called after them, nearly ran up to those hulking brutes and gave them every ounce of payback they deserved, but something stopped her. A feeling or a voice, she wasn’t really sure. But a sinking in her gut made her feel as if doing so would bring about consequences she couldn’t undo. Some invisible force seemed to hold her in her place, keeping her from pursuing. Instead she ducked behind the trash bins, the smell of rotting food making her gag.

And then the strangest thing happened as she watched. The group walked to the wall, the largest of the men reached out his hand, and then, they disappeared.

Aelin blinked. And then blinked again.

It hadn’t happened, _there was no way_. But the obvious lack of Chaol and company, was proof otherwise.

Stealthily, she made her way down to where they had been, on high alert now for any stragglers. Blood was splattered on the walls and there were large shoe prints in the layer of filth on the ground. So she definitely had not imagined it. But then...where had they gone?

Aelin turned, hoping for any indication of what had happened, and a glint of silver caught her eye. _A mirror._ Ugly and nondescript. The kind that would hang in a poor college student’s dorm. But in the exact location where the largest of the group had touched the wall. Without a second thought, Aelin reached for the mirror. For a moment her fingers met cool glass.

And then, she was falling.


	2. Chapter 2

Aelin Galathynius was falling.

Or at least she thought she was.

Falling through that mirror was the last thing she remembered doing. But no jolt in her stomach ever came, no ground rushing to meet her, no splintering pain to greet her before the final end.

It was just nothing but endless black. She would have thought she was already dead had she still not felt the need to breathe. She was certainly not on solid ground because she felt nothing but the rushing of air and a strange sort of helpless weightlessness, unable to change direction or do anything, really. It was incredibly boring, in fact, to be endlessly falling. And annoying. Perhaps it wouldn’t have been so bad if she could at least see what she was falling through, but no, it was meaningless black that stretched on forever and ever and ever, leaving her with nothing to do but think.

Thinking was not a pleasant thing right now. Chaol was at the forefront of all her thoughts and thinking of him only churned her stomach with questions. Who were those men? Was he in trouble? Where was she? Had she been given some kind of strange drug and this was all a dream? Had she really fallen through a mirror? Things like that didn’t happen, they couldn’t happen. Something must have been off with her food...Or maybe this was all a dream and she still was in her bed, her date with Chaol and all that came after never happened. It felt strange enough, unreal enough to be a dream...

On and on her thoughts circled until her brain felt like a tangled mess and she no longer knew up from down, her senses completely deprived. She could feel rationality leaving her, panic setting in. She was going to fall for forever until she lost all sense of time and space and self...or was she still even falling? Had the darkness switched her around was she now falling upward? Was she still even herself? Or had her consciousness fled her body at last and was now doomed to wander in darkness until there was no longer a flicker of the person who had once been Aelin…

On and on and on and on and on she continued. Or at least she thought she did. Perhaps she was just floating now in a wasteland abyss...

The loss of self, the loss of sense, it all became too much and Aelin felt her mind slip and a more permanent darkness take her far away.

She had no idea how long her body and mind were disconnected. Months or days or perhaps the just space of one heartbeat. Time didn’t matter when there was nothing else but falling. Endless falling.

Falling.

Falling..

Falling...

When her mind and body were reunited it took Aelin a moment to realize that she was, in fact, no longer falling. Instead she was laying on something, she assumed was ground of some sort, and felt relief that sense had returned to her limbs. And not only had feeling returned to her body, the one feeling she had expected to feel, if she ever had the chance to feel again after that numbing darkness, was not there.

There was no pain. No shattered bones, no twisted limbs. Everything was completely _fine,_ oddly enough. And that was the strangest thing of all. After a fall like that...well, she shouldn’t even exist after a fall like that.

If the fall had actually even happened. If she opened her eyes now and found herself laying in her bed, she would not have been surprised in the least. But when she did open her eyes and found herself not only not in her bed but not anywhere she had ever been before, Aelin knew falling was the least of her concerns now.

Because she wasn’t lying on the ground, no that would make far too much sense with all the strangeness that had happened to her already. No, she was laying on the ceiling, staring down at a room she knew she had never seen before in her life, yet felt as familiar as her own skin. It was dark and dank. At one point, it surely must have been a grand entryway to a mansion or perhaps a castle, but now it was only shredded wallpaper and cobwebs. She glared at the floor, as if the sheer force of her will could get it to be where it was supposed to be. When she moved to get a better look at her surroundings, suddenly the world righted and Aelin found herself tumbling to the floor. And this time, the fall did hurt, as she landed roughly on her shoulder, the shock rattling her teeth and pulling forth a slew of expletives that would have made most people blush.

When she finally was able to stand, Aelin didn’t even have a moment to take in her surroundings from the correct viewpoint, because that’s when she heard it. Voices. Not just any voices either. Chaol’s, yes, definitely Chaol’s, and other deep voices that could only belong to the men she had seen in the restaurant and the alleyway. Without a second thought to her injuries, adrenaline rushing back in, Aelin ran after the sounds, thick dust puffing up with each step she took. She didn’t take in the crumbling walls of the halls she ran down, or the smashed furniture that had to be centuries old. She only could push on, her blood thundered with fury, ignoring the ache in her shoulder and the racing in her heart. She had to find Chaol, they had to get out of whatever mad place Aelin had found herself in. They had to, they had to…

Turn after turn, Aelin lost herself in the maze of the old building she was in, following the sounds of voices and then...she skidded to a stop. The halls had deadended into a large round room, perhaps the strangest room she had ever seen. Because every inch of the tall walls were covered in doors, doors of every shape and size. Some were impossibly big, reaching so high up they disappeared into the gloom of the room, lit by only a few stuttering candles. Others were minuscule, squeezed between other strangely shaped and colored doors. All of them looked ancient and decrepit, with peeling paint and some even rotting, barely hanging on the hinges, darkness oozing like blood from where the wood was the most badly decayed.

Aelin stood there, shocked and then she quite literally pinched herself, because there was no possible way this was all real. A flash of pain however, unfortunately reassured herself that she was most certainly, not asleep. And then she heard it again. The voices.

Quickly, she dashed around the room, pulling on door handles, trying to find where the men could have gone. Door after door after door was locked. Even those that were crawling with termites and smelled of death and were more dust than door would not open under her touch. Her second route around the room yielded the same results, the only change her growing desperation. The voices were getting fainter, further away, nearly gone...and then it was quiet.

Aelin let loose a vicious, angry yell, and kicked the nearest door, showering herself in dust and filth from the rotting wood.

“You won’t get anywhere doing that,” came a scornful voice. “In fact, you’ll likely release some disgusting, hungry creature that has been locked away for too long. Or open a passageway to some terrible dimension. Really, you should think before you do anything further.”

Utterly confused, Aelin whirled around, searching for the source of the voice...and there, at ankle level was a little door that somehow she had missed before. How, she did not know, for it was the only door not rotting or falling apart in the entire room. In fact it was in nearly perfect condition with a bright, shiny, brass door knocker in the shape of a skull in the center.

Curiosity got the better of Aelin, and she knelt down and as silly as she felt, addressed the door, hoping whoever was behind it could help her. “Excuse me?”

“I said stop kicking doors. It will not end well for you.”

Aelin nearly jumped out of her skin. Because the voice wasn’t coming from behind the door, it was coming _from_ the door. To be specific, it was coming from the skull shaped knocker in the middle of the door.

“What the hell?” she poked the knocker, “How are you doing that?”

The knocker gave her what could only be described as a condescending look. “Of everything that’s happened to you today, you’re wondering about how I can speak? Don’t you have someone one to be looking for? That is why you are here, is it not?”

Aelin was already sick of the conversation and it took all her will not to rip the thing from the door, but since the knocker was her only lead to Chaol, she restrained herself. “Right. Did they come this way, Door?”

“Door?! I’m Mort. And I am not a door.”

It took all of Aelin’s willpower not to roll her eyes. “Fine. Mort, did they come this way?”

“Oh yes. They passed right through my doorway not ten minutes ago.”

Aelin had never considered killing a door before, yet here she was. “And you couldn’t have led with that? Or stopped me from wasting my time running around?” she growled out.

“I’m stuck on a door. This is the most interesting thing that has happened to me in ages. Can you blame me for having a little fun?” Mort smirked.

“Arrgh!” Aelin yelled. “Just...let me through!!”

Mort snorted. “It doesn’t work that way. You’re far too big. You’ll have to grow smaller.”

“Grow smaller?” Aelin didn’t care that her fury made her voice rise several pitches. “That’s impossible, and ridiculous, and if you weren’t stuck to a door, I’d-”

Mort cleared his throat. Or whatever he had that made him speak and gave her a pointed look before jutting out his chin, as if to point at something behind her. Aelin whirled around, and sure enough, a table sat behind her.

It was impossible, but she should have been used to that by now. She had covered every inch of this room before, and there had not been a table before. And yet there it stood, a table. It was old and dusty, like everything else she had seen in the eerie building she had fallen into. Perhaps, it had once been grand, maybe even had gilded paint on its legs, but now, like everything else, it was falling apart, rotted and filthy. On top of it sat a little glass bottle, that unlike anything else she had seen so far, was clean and glittering, as if it was made of crystal. It was full of a dark red liquid that looked far too much like blood for Aelin’s liking. And written on the little brown label were two words.

_Drink me_

“Drink me? Are you serious?” Aelin raised an incredulous eyebrow at the bottle. “The likelihood of this killing me is astronomical.”

“And what other option do you have? Not that I would mind having someone to talk to for the next century.” Aelin did not even bother looking at the little door. Gods, she was really getting tired of that knocker.

Unfortunately, the thing was right. She had no other options. The only thing to do was drink the liquid. Before she could talk herself out of it, Aelin pulled out the stopper and took a swig. It burned like acid going down and the feeling didn’t stop once it hit her stomach. Instead it spread to every inch of her body, racing through her bloodstream like wildfire. The pain was excruciating, making her knees buckle, bringing her crashing to the floor. She didn’t feel the impact, not that the pain would compare to the feeling of white-hot knives burning through her flesh. It was all she could do to remain conscious as she writhed on the floor.

And then it stopped. As suddenly as it came, the pain was gone, leaving no trace behind except the damp sweat that lingered in her clothes. Aelin stood shakily, wanting to examine herself for any trace of injury, only to have her once tight fitting dress slide right off of her.

Aelin had shrunk.

Mort laughed and Aelin shot him a fiery glare that made him attempt to stifle his peels of laughter, though rather unsuccessfully. Quickly, she ripped a length of her dress and wrapped it around herself, mourning the loss of her favorite dress. She kicked off her shoes that were currently swallowing her feet and made her way over to the door.

“You knew that was going to happen, didn’t you?”

Mort only grinned in response.

“I really hate you. I’m glad this is the end of our relationship.” Aelin grabbed the handle of the door and turned, only to find it locked. Because of course it was.

“ _Gods dammit!_ ” She yelled only to be met by more laughter from Mort.

“Looks like you’re not rid of me yet.”

“I really hate you,” Aelin glared at him. “So, you’re magical door. Why can’t you just open?”

Mort grinned again, obviously enjoying her frustration far too much. “It doesn’t work that way. You’ll need the key.”

And once again, he jutted his chin out, towards the table. There, glittering next to the now empty bottle, laid a key. A key that really, most definitely had not been there earlier. She really, really hated this place. And what was worse, was now that table was far too high to reach. Nestled under the table, was a small tin that upon closer inspection, was full of sugar cookies, every last one iced with the words “Eat me” in bright red.

_Oh no. Definitely not. No, she was not doing this again. No way._

Aelin threw the cookies to the ground, not caring that they scattered every which way. She was done. Done with all of it. So before she could think better of it, Aelin turned and charged at the door. The very last thing she saw was Mort’s face, mouth open wide, shocked and yelling at her to stop. But she didn’t heed him as she rammed into the door, which gave way under the force of her impact.

A split second later she wished she had listened. Because when she burst through the door she found herself running headlong into a completely different world. And right off a cliff.

Once again Aelin Galathynius was falling.


End file.
